Quan's Travelogues: Josephine Baker, Maya Paris, Cactus und Monmartre

2012-01-28

Josephine Baker, Maya Paris, Cactus und Monmartre

Betty Tureaud: you are crazy
Betty Tureaud: lol
Maya Paris: hahaha
Mikati Slade: hehe
Maya Paris: thats; not the first time i've heard that
Maya Paris: i will take it as a compliment ;)
Betty Tureaud: love you
Maya Paris: thank you Betty!
Maya Paris: you need a banana on your head:)
Maya Paris: i am spreading the crazy
Betty Tureaud: :)
Mikati Slade: i want to know why the artwork features cactus a lot
Maya Paris: :))
Maya Paris: well..i was making this.....and a French friend sent me a song link
Maya Paris: Les Cactus...by Jacques Dutronc
Maya Paris: if you click the HUD you can hear it
Mikati Slade: oh i see, from a song
Maya Paris: yes, but i also love cacti RL
Maya Paris: i have alot
Mikati Slade: oh cool :DD
Maya Paris: i also love bananas:)

With this conversation yesterday at the opening almost all is said about the new installations by Maya Paris. All is just a huge, crazy fun! But let me start from the beginning. It is an installation about Josephine Baker, called the Black Venus. She was the first African American who had worldwide success in show business. A really impressing person, which also was a good business women and her whole life long active against suppression and racism. Almost everyone still knows her Banana Dance. Maya’s work uses the Art Deco style of that time and the bananas are slightly more than decent erotic allusions.
At the landing point you get a Hud which leads to music and information about Josephine and in the discs you have a choice of 7 different and totally crazy avatars. Here you see 3 of them dancing:

Maya Paris, Mikati Slade and me dancing

In the large dip of banana cream you get dance animations. The bar offers drinks.

All parts of the installation are interactive, try them. Unbelievable, what happens. For maximum effects, set the viewer at least on medium and raise particles up.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SBCC/158/194/2958

A smaller, more bar-like version of this installation you find in Virtual Monmartre, which also hosts a Josephine Baker Museum.

Cactus Bar by Maya Paris

Josephine Baker Museum

The sim is worth a visit. You find many small galleries, especially the places of Claudia222 Jewell with her newest mesh creations and Nish Mip caught my eyes.